Nigel Dawes had a shot at history on Saturday…and barely missed wide to the left.

The forward for Kazakhstan was the hero against the Swiss, scoring two goals in the shootout, including the game winner.

But earlier in the game, midway through the first period, he missed on a penalty shot, and in so doing he missed a chance to make history as the first player in 80 World Championships to score a regulation goal on a penalty shot as well as a goal in the penalty-shot shootout.

“I didn’t know that,” he said later, before adding, “but I missed, so it doesn’t matter.”

In fact, the feat has been accomplished only once before at any top-level IIHF tournament (men and women), by Russian Maxim Shalunov at the U18 championship. On 16 April 2011, Shalunov scored on a penalty shot midway through the first period after being hooked from behind by Kilian Keller.

The Germans rallied to send the game into overtime and then a shootout, and Shalunov scored again, taking the first Russian shot. His team went on to win, 5-4.

“I wasn’t as calm as I would have liked,” Dawes admitted. “I was too impatient, and I didn’t realize how good a goalie he was.”

Yannick Weber was called with holding at 9:35 of the opening period as Dawes moved in alone for a clear chance, resulting in the penalty shot. But the play came near the end of his shift and he was still breathing heavily as he took the freebie.

“I didn’t have time to catch my breath,” he continued, “but still at this level you have to be in good enough shape. You at least have to hit the net.”

Despite the miss, coach Andrei Nazarov didn’t hesitate to go back to Dawes in the first round of the shootout with the game score tied, 2-2.

“I took shootouts all season and I took them in the NHL, so it’s a situation I’m comfortable with,” Dawes explained.

He scored on a beautiful deke to the left of Reto Berra, and then with the shootout score tied, 2-2, teams went to sudden death. Dawes got the call again. This time, he deked the other way, confounding the Swiss goalie a second time.

“You have to read off the goalie,” Dawes explained. “The percentages are always with the goalie in penalty shots and breakaways, but I was lucky enough that it worked out in my favour.”

It did, and Kazakhstan won the game, but Dawes couldn’t quite make World Championship history in the process.